NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) \u2014 Tennis courts dedicated by professional tennis star Madison Keys three years ago are crumbling, leaving North Charleston High School\u2019s newly formed girls\u2019 tennis team to practice on cracked pavement with no access to water, bathrooms or lights. <\/p>\n
The courts sit across the street from North Charleston High School, which is putting together its first-ever girls\u2019 tennis team. <\/p>\n
Courts in disrepair <\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Charleston High School is trying to put together a high school girls team. They only have two courts for them to practice on. And even though they\u2019re going to do the matches over at the North Charleston Sports Complex, they have two more courts that were over here. And they are in really bad shape at this point and are going to become a skate park, unfortunately,\u201d April Gift, manager of program development for the United States Tennis Association of South Carolina, said. <\/p>\n
Gift said the lack of basic amenities limits what the team can do at the site. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no bathroom access for the kids. There\u2019s no water access. And then also there are no lights here. So, no programming can go beyond when it gets dark here. And this is really a great location for people to walk to,\u201d Gift said. <\/p>\n
Because of the missing lights and other infrastructure, the girls\u2019 team is bused to the North Charleston Sports Complex for matches. <\/p>\n
A 2023 dedication <\/p>\n
The courts were dedicated in 2023 by Keys and her Kindness Wins Foundation. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo back in 2022, Madison Keys, her foundation, Kindness Wins, gave me the award of Kindness Wins. And as you can see with the courts, it says Kindness Wins on them. She had given me that award. And then the following year, with the Credit One Charleston Open, she did a clinic here for the children that are underserved in the area. And we were trying to create more tennis awareness. She did a clinic here for the kids. And what we did was we did the clinic, she dedicated the courts, and she purchased the windscreens through her foundation, Kindness Wins,\u201d Gift said. \u201cAnd as you can see, the condition of the courts over the three years has really, you know, diminished, you know, and so it makes it tough.\u201d <\/p>\n
USTA says help is available <\/p>\n
Gift said the USTA has grants and program funding available if the city partners with the organization. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have various avenues to help them. We have grant opportunities, and we also have program opportunities that we can help them with to build programming and also to get funds. And we have people in our office that can help with that. We have grant people that will help,\u201d Gift said. <\/p>\n
Gift said the two courts slated to become a skate park could instead support the team. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo right now, they can, you know, they can play at North Charleston Sports Complex. But again, you know, they can walk here, whereas they\u2019re going to have to have transportation there. Making that skate park over there obviously doesn\u2019t help. But these courts could still be used in helping with either programming or also helping them to develop their team, since it literally is across the street. If they would partner with USTA, we could help them to put lights on. We could help them with resurfacing. We could help them with the windscreens, which most of them are in really bad shape if you take a real look at them,\u201d Gift said. <\/p>\n
Gift said the USTA has not received a response from the city despite reaching out. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe send them the information and, you know, unfortunately, you know, it\u2019s tough because I feel that you need to be able to see it or actually be in, I guess, in person like we are right now, to be able to understand the opportunities that we have that we can help them with,\u201d Gift said. <\/p>\n
Other schools have partnered with USTA <\/p>\n
Gift pointed to similar projects completed with other South Carolina communities and schools. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, Mount Pleasant, we have partnered with them. They are actually putting in six new courts at their one complex, Mount Pleasant Tennis Center. And then, also, we have helped them to resurface with another organization called Lowcountry Tennis Association, which is the adult side of tennis. They have helped to resurface their courts that were in really bad shape for adult play over there. So, we have those opportunities. And then, Creekside Tennis Club, they put in two brand new courts. So, now they have 12 courts over there for their programming and also for their adult league play,\u201d Gift said. <\/p>\n
Gift said St. John\u2019s High School is another example. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve created a great program for them to have a feeder program because they\u2019ve never had a boys and girls team for a long time. Because they took their courts and created baseball batting cages. So, now they\u2019re going back to creating them as tennis courts and adding more courts. They\u2019re going to add two more courts. So, then they\u2019ll have four courts for a tennis match. That\u2019s what North Charleston could use really here, which is directly across the street from the school,\u201d Gift said. <\/p>\n
USTA hopes city will reach out <\/p>\n
Gift said she wants the city to begin the application process with USTA South Carolina. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would love to see them reach back out to us and really start this process. It doesn\u2019t take that much to put in an application with USTA South Carolina,\u201d Gift said. \u201cPut that application in the queue. And then when you\u2019re ready, then you have the process started. And then you can go from there and get these courts resurfaced. And then also maybe add lights. Maybe they could fund having a restroom right here. Because the girls right now do not have any place to go to the restroom unless they go back to the school,\u201d Gift said. <\/p>\n
The City of North Charleston has been contacted for comment on the condition of the courts. <\/p>\n
The response is pending. <\/p>\n
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